The Power of One
by chipper-dip
Summary: Twenty three years after season eight, only one of the Charmed Ones is still alive.The power has passed on to the next generation,but Three has now become One.Follow Chris as he takes up the Charmed Mantle and makes a new life for himself
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: _Charmed is owned by Spelling Entertainment and Warner Brother's Television. Certain spell text is borrowed from the television show. However, since no money is being made by this tale, I don't feel too guilty about borrowing anything. The plot and any original characters/spells belong to me so please ask don't copy this story without permission._

**Please** read and **review**, I have a few ideas where I want this story to go but I am open to suggestions!! Also, as this is my first post, all pointers/criticism will be happily received.

Piper stood by the kitchen sink staring out through the window. There was a huge pile of washing up to her right and she had a half washed plate in her hands. She was having extreme difficulty concentrating because she had more important things on her mind than a pile of dirty plates. It seemed ridiculous to her that she was even attempting to do household chores. He'd been gone nearly two days now and it was just another feeble attempt to keep her mind off his absence. With a heavy sigh she dropped the plate into the dish of soapy water and shouted to the ceiling, "Why do you always have to interfere in my life? Is it too much to let my family live in peace?" With that Piper burst into tears. Her children were the only reason for existing now that Phoebe, Paige and even her beloved Leo had all gone. Why did they have to take Chris away from her? It just didn't make sense. Her whole family had spent their lives fighting for the greater good, her two sisters had died because of it and those god forsaken Elders still felt that they had the right to control everyone and everything. It wasn't right. Who were they to order her son around? The Halliwell family were supposed to be done with taking orders from the Elders.

Piper heard the front door open and a familiar voice call "Mom", "Are you home?". Before Piper could pull herself together enough to reply, Wyatt came into the kitchen and said, "Hey Mom." As soon as he saw she was crying he rushed over and put his arms around her. "Don't be upset mom, you know he had to go, he's doing exactly what you would have done in his shoes"

"That's not the point Wyatt. He's in danger because of the Elders. As usual they are sticking their noses into my life and interfering with my family."

"Mom this isn't about you. They asked Chris to go because they needed someone they could trust who had the power to defend himself. Chris is more powerful than any of us and you have to admit he has more charm than a leprechaun."

"I know, I know! But I miss him so, so much! It's been two days and there's no telling when or even if he'll come home. Why hasn't he called?"

"Mom, he's the son of a Charmed one and he has me for a brother! He thinks he has something to prove to all of us, he still hasn't realised that having the power of the Charmed ones within him makes him more powerful than I could ever be. He needs to do this to try out his new powers and get used to who he is now"

"But we did all that, me! Prue! Phoebe! Paige!" Piper said stressing the word we. "We were the charmed ones and the whole thing should've died with us! You are considered the most powerful being on the planet and you could vanquish any demon I've ever seen. Why did they have to pump all this power into Chris and send him off to another country to fight evil all on his own! It just doesn't make sense!"

"I know what you mean but the world is never going to be free from evil! You know that as well as I do. Chris is the next generation of the Charmed ones, it's not the power of three anymore, it's the power of one! I'm not the one Mom, I have a lot of power but it doesn't match what Chris has and clearly that's what's needed in London. He'll be in touch as soon as he can. You just have to believe that we learnt enough from you and dad, and our aunts to defend ourselves and protect innocents. It's what Halliwell's are meant to do!" Piper frowned at Wyatt before he continued, "Chris can do it mom, and you know in your heart that he can!"

"Maybe I do know it but that doesn't mean I have to like it" Piper said sadly.


	2. Chapter 2

Chris awoke with a shock. He'd never get used to having premonitions in his sleep. Especially not premonitions about terrified young girls. At least when his Aunt Phoebe first got her ability she had to touch something to get a premonition but as he had so much power he had skipped that stage and got them whenever his help was needed. He tried to remember exactly what he had seen;

_It had been dark, she seemed to be in a park, near a children's play area. The sign had said Highbury something. The girl was clearly running as fast as she could, she looked like she was about to pass out. She had glanced over her shoulder and tripped on a kerb and as she fell to the ground, she started to scream._

Chris tried to work out what had made her scream but he couldn't. He got what he got from a premonition and as frustrating as it could be, he just had to go with it. One thing he was sure of was that he had at least several hours to figure it out. The attack had happened at night and it was currently two in the afternoon so he had some time.

He got out of the sofa and looked out the window. London looked so different to San Francisco and yet it still had the same feeling to it. Chris figured this was some sort of big city thing. He was living in Zone two of London, in a place called Archway which was quite close to the West End. All he had to do was jump on a tube and he could be in the Social centre of the entire city, which was something he intended to sample to the full now that he lived here. He'd been here two days and had barely time to do anything as the Lazarus demon had been his number one priority. The demon had killed at least two innocents before he had caught up with it. Thankfully it was now dust locked up in a Crypt in Finchley Cemetery where he had put it early that morning. He'd only been sleeping for five hours when the premonition had forced him out of his sleep. He had fully intended on going to bed as soon as the Lazarus demon was dealt with but as he had been so tired, he had passed out on the sofa shortly after coming home. Chris still felt exhausted, five hours was so not enough sleep after being up for 48 hours. He knew that in his current state he would be no good to the innocent in his premonition so he headed to the bathroom to have a long hot shower to wake him up.

Forty minutes later, Chris was sitting in his living room powering up his laptop. As he couldn't take the actual Book of Shadows to London with him, he had scanned all the pages on to his laptop. Together with Billy's scrying software and all the other demon information he had gathered over the years, he knew this was going to be an invaluable tool to him in his new capacity as The Charmed One. He was still getting used to the fact that he was The Charmed One; he had all the power of his Mom and her sisters in him. He even had more power than Wyatt! That was going to take some getting used to as well as the fact that he could now get premonitions, levitate, freeze time, astral project and heal people. He knew that he'd soon be able to blow things up as well, he was kinda nervous about getting that particular power as he knew how much trouble his Mom had getting it under control. But he would deal with that issue when it arose, for now he just had to get used to using the powers he had. His aunt's Prue, Phoebe and Paige had been very helpful when he had summoned them for advice. He knew that without their help he never would have been able to get all these powers under control.

As he connected to the Internet and began searching for a children's play area that would be near a sign with the word Highbury on it, there was a knock on his front door. He thought it was quite strange as he didn't actually know anyone in London yet, never mind anyone who knew where he lived. Chris closed the lid on his laptop and went to open the door.

"Hey, little bro, how's you?" Wyatt said as soon as the door opened.

This was one of the last people Chris expected to see and he found himself a little pissed off that he was here.

"Wyatt!! What are you doing here?" Chris couldn't keep the tenseness from his voice. He'd only left the Manor two days ago and here was his big brother checking up on him already.

"I know exactly what you are thinking and I'm sorry! I'm not here to check up on you! I promise"

"Well then why are you here?"

"Chill little bro, Mom's just really worried because she hasn't heard from you. She didn't want me to check up on you either before you start. We both know how important this is to you and I just thought I'd orb over and remind you call her!"

"I'm sorry Wyatt, things have just been really hectic here. I haven't had time to sleep let alone orb home"

"Chris, no-one said you had to orb home, you could just have called! There are non magical ways to communicate!"

"I know, I know! And I will as soon as I get a minute. I promise. The last thing I want is for Mom to be worrying about me!"

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Nah, it's cool, I'm on it but thanks for the offer. Do me a favour and tell Mom I love her. I probably won't be able to call until tomorrow, got an innocent to save and all that."

"Sure thing Chris, just don't forget!"

Wyatt then stepped forward and gave Chris a hug. Patting him on the back he said "Take care of yourself Little bro and remember we're only an orb away if you need us" As Wyatt released the hug, Chris said "Thanks Wyatt, I'll remember that"

As Wyatt disappeared in a flurry of blue and white lights, Chris closed the door and made his way back to his laptop. He shifted through the information his search had discovered and decided that the most probable location of the attack was a park about two miles from where he lived. As he still had some time, he decided to take the bus there as he still didn't know the area very well and orbing didn't really take in a many of the sites.

A little while later Chris stepped off the bus at Highbury Corner and headed in the direction of the park where he believed the attack would take place. As he entered the park, he recognised it as the one from his premonition. He could see the children's play area and the sign which said 'Highbury Fields' and he headed in the direction that he knew the girl would be running from. As he turned a corner around a building he spotted the girl standing across a quiet residential street talking with two other girls. They were all about thirteen years old and Chris had a feeling that their parents didn't know they were hanging around a darkened street at seven o'clock on a winter's night. As he tried to decide if he was better watching the girls from a distance or approaching them and trying to get them to go home, he noticed movement in the corner of his eye. He glanced over and noticed that a warlock had just blinked in on the other side of the road about ten meters away from the girls. The warlock didn't see Chris as he was partially covered by a bush and he started to make his way towards the three girls. One of the girls glanced toward the warlock and started to scream so Chris immediately gestured and froze all three girls. The warlock stopped in his tracks, he was clearly shocked by what had happened but couldn't see why the girls had frozen. Chris swung his right arm, and used his TK to send the warlock flying through the air away from the girls. Before the Warlock could react and blink out, Chris gestured with both arms and froze him in mid air then orbed to his side. His mom had explained to him how to unfreeze the head while keeping the rest of the body frozen but he had yet to try it on a warlock or demon. Chris delicately gestured with one hand concentrating on the head as his mom has said but unfortunately he misjudged and the warlock completely unfroze. Before Chris could react, the warlock completed his fall through the air and crashed against a wall, immediately blinking out. Chris turned around just as the warlock reappeared behind him with an athame poised ready to strike. Using his power of levitation Chris jumped into the air and kicked the warlock in the face. As he returned to the ground Chris froze the warlock again and this time managed to unfreeze just his head.

"OK, I'm in a hurry, I'm tired and I'm in no mood for you to mess me around. Why are you after that girl?" Chris casually asked the warlock.

"What have you done to me witch?" asked the warlock, venom dripping from each word.

"I said, I'm tired so if you don't answer me, I'll just vanquish you and work it out myself! Why are you after that girl?"

"I'm not after a girl you fool, I'm after a witch! And I will have her power!"

"I don't think so."

Chris then began to think of a spell to vanquish the warlock. The best he could come up with was;

"In the name of light,

To do whats right,

I'll give you a hand,

To the demon wasteland"

As Chris finished chanting, the warlock exploded in flames and was gone without a trace.

"Hey, corny rhyme but it did the job" Chris laughed to himself and made his way back behind the bush where he was when the warlock appeared. He then gestured and caused the three girls to unfreeze. He knew that one of the girls was a witch and figured it was the one from his premonition but before he could decide whether or not to approach her, a whitelighter orbed in beside him. The whitelighter was about 5' 9", with dark hair and the most beautiful eyes Chris had even seen.

"You must be Chris Halliwell" said the whitelighter offering his hand to shake with Chris.

"That's me, and you are?" replied Chris.

"I'm Damian, young Rita there is one of my charges. I figured she may be next on the list"

"You what? What list?" Chris asked shocked.

"I've lost three charges in the last four weeks. All of them had their throats cut with an athame so I'm guessing it was the same warlock that killed all three."

"Well if you're right you don't have to worry anymore, I just vanquished the warlock that came after Rita. He won't be giving you any more problems."

"Well good for you! It's not many witches that can defeat a warlock with the power of deflection"

"Deflection? That warlock didn't have the power of deflection or if he did, he didn't know how to use it"

"Are you sure, he took the power of deflection from the first witch he killed and that's how he got past the powers of the second witch. John couldn't use his telekinesis on him because of the deflection, he definitely knew how to use it."

"How do you know that? What did this warlock look like?"

"I was there when John was killed. I tried to orb him out but I was too late." Damian broke off talking and looked like he was about to cry. Chris wanted to comfort him but he didn't even know him and wasn't sure how Damian would feel about a stranger putting his arms around him. Before Chris could act, Damian shook his head and said, "The warlock was about 6'2", slim build with shoulder length black hair, usual ugly mug"

"Sound's like the warlock I've just vanquished but he definitely didn't use the deflection power. If he had, I wouldn't have been able to freeze him once, never mind twice!"

"This is very strange! I've never heard of a warlock losing a power once they've stolen it. I'm gonna go talk to the elders and see what they think. Thanks for helping Rita out, I couldn't cope with losing another charge"

Chris smiled at Damian and said, "Don't sweat it, all in a days work. I'm just glad I got here in time. Will you let me know what the elders have to say? I want to follow this up if there's more to it."

"Of course I will. Where can I get hold of you?"

"I'm off home now, could really do with some sleep! I've only been in London for a few days and I've spent almost the whole time fighting demons and warlocks!"

"OK, I'm sure I'll find you. I'll come around tomorrow morning and let you know what I've found out. You go home and get some sleep, sounds like you need it!"

"Cool, I'll see you tomorrow Damian"

"Until tomorrow"

With one last smile and a lingering look, Chris orbed home to get some much needed sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been almost a week since Chris had saved Rita from the warlock. As arranged Damian had come around the next morning and they had discussed what the Elders had to say about why the warlock was stealing witches powers and then didn't seem to possess the powers when Chris had fought him. The Elders did not have any more information but they believed that the warlock may have been collecting the powers and somehow transferring them to someone or something else. Chris and Damian had hit a blank wall about how to proceed as there had been no more attacks and they did not know who or what they were looking for.

Although Chris is technically half whitelighter, the Elders still felt that he needed a guardian to guide him and to act as a go-between for them. As Chris and Damian had built up an immediate rapport after Rita was attacked he was the natural choice to be Chris' whitelighter. Although Chris didn't want a whitelighter or feel that he needed one he accepted it, if only as an excuse to spend more time with Damian who was fast becoming a regular visitor at Chris' flat.

Things were starting to work out well for Chris in London. Magically everything had been quiet since the attack on Rita and he was now settled into his flat and he vaguely knew his way around London. He had even managed to make it home to have dinner with his Mom once and she was starting to accept that he had moved out and could look after himself. He was due to start his new job the next day and he was quite nervous about it. He had only been a cop in San Francisco for two years and now here he was starting all over again in London which was like a different world to him. The Elders had arranged it so that he could become a Detective immediately which meant that he didn't have to go through their training and join at the very bottom of the hierarchy again. Through Damian, the Elders had even allowed him to perform a knowledge spell to learn enough about English law and their procedures to fit in and be able to do the job. He had to report to Islington Police Station at 8am the following morning and he was feeling nervous but excited.

Thanks to Damian, Chris now knew a few people in London. The two of them had gone out to a local bar one night and Chris had got talking to a few people and had arranged to meet one of them tonight for a drink. If he didn't hurry up he was going to be late.

Chris arrived at the bar about fifteen minutes later and was pleased to discover Joanne sitting at the bar waiting for him. The two of them spent the whole evening in deep conversation as though they had known each other for years. When they had been there for a few hours Chris got up to go to the bathroom. As he walked through the crowded bar, he felt the familiar tingling behind his eyes as he entered a premonition:

_Rita was standing by a bridge looking at her watch, then she glanced up and had a look around before looking at her watch again, the time read 21:48. By the look on her face she appeared to be disappointed about something. As she began to look around again a man was approaching from behind her. She turned around and saw him and her face lit up as though he was who she was expecting. When the man was close enough, he pulled an athame from his pocket and slit her throat where she stood. _

As Chris came out of the premonition he looked around to see if anyone noticed his behaviour but was pleased to see that no-one had. He then glanced at his watch and was horrified to see that the time was 21:40. He only had eight minutes to save Rita. He quickly rushed back to Joanne and made his excuses to leave, she clearly thought something was wrong but being a friend, she didn't say anything more than "See you soon" and he rushed out the door with a quick peck on the cheek.

As Chris rushed out the door he began to frantically call for Damian. Damian orbed into an alley to the side of the pub and run over to Chris "Chris, what's wrong? Where's the fire?"

"It's Rita; we have to find her now! She's in serious danger! Can you sense her?"

Damian closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment, and then he opened his eyes and said "Got her!" He grabbed Chris' arm and they both disappeared in a flurry of blue and white lights reappearing seconds later by the bridge Chris saw in his premonition. Rita was standing about halfway across the bridge with her back to the boys looking in the opposite direction. Chris was trying to figure which side the attacker was going to come from but he couldn't so he told Damian to go and find out who she was meeting because in his premonition, she seemed to know her attacker. As Damian went over to speak to Rita, Chris began to look around to try and find the attacker before he got near enough to do any harm. He couldn't see the man from his vision anywhere so he went over to join Damian and Rita.

As he approached Damian noticed him and started walking towards him.

"Hey, I can't see anything" Chris said as he reached Damian. "Has she said who she's waiting for?"

"Yeah, it's a boy from her class in school that she's had a crush on for ages. They've been getting to know each other recently and he wanted her to meet him tonight to make plans for the weekend."

"The guy in my vision was no 14 year old school boy that's for sure!"

"Maybe she just thought she recognized the attacker!"

"I doubt it from the way she acted in my premonition but I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

A few minutes later, Chris glanced over at Rita and saw the guy from his premonition approaching her. Looking at him now Chris could clearly see that he was a warlock. "That's him" he shouted to Damian and used his TK to knock the guy off his feet and away from Rita.

Rita glared at Chris angrily and shouted "What the hell are you doing? Do you always run around attacking kids?" She then turned and run towards the warlock who was now getting off the ground and dusting off his clothes.

Chris shouted "Rita! No!" Rita ignored him and when she got near the warlock he drew an athame and plunged it into her throat. Chris gestured with both hands and froze the warlock in place. He then run over to Rita and pulled her away from the warlock. She was still breathing but was bleeding very heavily and had gone unconscious. Chris knew she didn't have much time left. He placed her gently on the ground and then held his two hands over the gaping wound in her neck; he felt his hands heat up and saw the golden glow that meant she would soon be healed. As soon as Rita's wound closed and all the blood disappeared she started to come around so Chris asked Damian to look after her. He then went over to the warlock who was still frozen and holding the athame outstretched to finish slicing Rita's throat. Chris snatched the athame off the warlock and plunged it into his heart with all his strength. The warlock immediately unfroze and started to scream as he was disintegrated in a fiery vanquish.

He then turned towards Damian and said, "Damian, I think you should get Rita home and tell her parents what's happened."

"Sure, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to head home and do some research, see if I can I.D. this guy and work out why so many warlocks seem interested in Rita"

"OK, I'll get her home and settled then I'll see you at your place"

Damian then wrapped his arms around Rita and they both disappeared in bright blue and white lights. Chris sighed deeply and then said to no-one in particular "It's gonna be one long night!" before he orbed home.

Later that night, Chris was sitting by his laptop checking every source of information he could find. He was trying to figure out why two different warlocks would go after one witch; especially a witch who had only just entered puberty and come into her powers. He'd been lucky because as a descendant of Melinda Warren he had access to his powers from the day he was born and didn't have to adjust to them as a teenager. Rita's only power was the ability to slow down time which at a stretch may one day advance to a limited freezing ability. At the minute she could only slow down the object that she was directing her power at, she couldn't even slow down a whole room. It just didn't make sense that warlocks would go to so much trouble over one witch who in the grand scheme of things didn't have a very strong power. He knew that there was definitely something else going on here but he had no idea what it was or how to work it out. Frustrated he got up and went to the kitchen to make himself a coffee, he knew the caffeine was a bad idea so late at night but he needed to stay awake to try and make some headway on why these witches were being killed. As the kettle boiled Chris realised that Damian still hadn't come by. He'd been so wrapped up in the research that three hours had gone by without a word from him; surely it didn't take that long to settle Rita down. Something must be wrong; Chris just hoped that there hadn't been another attack, which would be all they needed now.

Just as Chris finished that thought Damian orbed into the kitchen.

"Hey, I was just starting to get worried about you"

"Sorry I took so long. Rita was pretty upset thinking that a boy she was mad about tried to kill her, it took some time before I could convince her that it wasn't the boy she knew but a warlock impersonating him! He must have been using some kind of glamour spell that only worked on Rita. She's having a hard time coping with her new powers and top that with the fact that she thinks her first boyfriend tried to slit her throat. She's pretty stressed out to say the least."

Damian walked over and rested against the bench as Chris nodded in agreement and offered him some coffee which he gladly accepted. When he had his cup of coffee, Damian continued, "The other reason I took so long getting here was because the Elders called me. They said that they think a demon is recruiting warlocks to collect specific powers for it."

Chris looked shocked, "A demon is using warlocks to do it's dirty work and the warlocks are agreeing to it! Why? It just doesn't make any sense to me, demons hate warlocks and vice versa! Do they have any idea what kind of demon could be doing this?"

"True it does defy logic as we know it but hey, who ever said evil was logical? The Elders reckon we're looking for a Stratagem demon but as usual they neglected to mention why."

Chris took a sip of his coffee and stared into the thoughtfully for a few minutes. "Stratagem. I've never heard of them and I thought because of my aunts and my mom that I'd heard of every demon going!"

"To be honest, I don't know much about them myself. Do you have your Mom's Book of Shadows here?"

Chris put his arm around Damian's shoulders and led him into the living saying "Damian, don't be silly, it's the twenty first century! I've upgraded the Book of Shadows to a digital version to use on my laptop. Besides if I wanted to use the original, Mom would have me orbing home every five minutes so that the book could stay in the Manor!"

Chris then sat down at his laptop and began to look up Stratagem demons in his electronic Book of Shadows. Several seconds later the information he required appeared on the screen and he called Damian over to read it with him. On the screen was a drawing of a tall, muscular demon that was basically humanoid in shape but had an arch in its back. The demons torso and head were covered in dark brown armour with sharp horns running from it's forehead to the small of it's back and down both arms and it had a brown fur covering the legs. It had yellow eyes and it appeared to have an almost human mouth except it had red pointed teeth. The passage beside the demon read:

Stratagem demons are upper level demons which have hard bony armour covering the top half of their bodies that is impervious to weapons. They have the ability to shoot projectiles from their wrists at extreme velocity towards their intended victim. These projectiles are made of the same material as the demons armour. A weapon made from the demon's own armour is the only known way to penetrate its hide.

The demon can be vanquished by making a potion of mandrake root, primrose, lavender, witches bane, demon flesh and 200ml purified water. Shake the water for 100 heart beats and bring half of it to the boil, add the primrose and witches bane and bring it to the boil again and add the rest of the water. Grind the mandrake together with the lavender and add this to the mix. Allow this to boil for 300 heart beats then add the piece of demons flesh.

The following vanquishing spell must also be used:

Spirits of air, forest and sea,  
Set us of this demon free.  
Take this evil with bone for a shell,  
And deliver its hide back to hell

"That sounds like one nasty demon" said Damian

"That's the truth. It doesn't say anything here about why the demon would be using warlocks to collect powers though so we're no closer to working out what the bigger picture is!"

"Yeah, you're right. What if we go after this thing in the hope that we get more clues from it?"

"I dunno, if we vanquish the Stratagem then we'll have no way of finding out why it's using warlocks to collect powers!"

"True but if we don't, it'll just send another warlock after Rita!"

Chris thought this over before smiling and saying, "Guess we are going demon hunting then! There's no summoning spell here but I should be able to come up with something to do the trick."

"I'll bet you can!" said Damian with a cheeky wink, "So when do you want to do this?"

"Well it was over a week between the last two attacks and I really have to get some sleep for my first day at work tomorrow so I guess we can leave this till tomorrow afternoon. At least that will allow me time to come up with a summoning spell!"

"OK, well good luck for tomorrow. I'll come by tomorrow afternoon then. See ya!"

"Yeah, see you tomorrow, we'll kick that demons butt, no matter how thick his hide is!" laughed Chris.

Damian laughed along and said, "We definitely will" as he orbed out leaving Chris to shut down his laptop and go to bed.


	4. Chapter 4

The following morning Chris arrived at Islington Police Station at 07.45 eager to start his first day as a member of the Metropolitan Police. He entered the station and asked at the front desk for Detective Sergeant Winters who was gong to be his line manager in his new job. The officer behind the desk told Chris to take a seat and said that DS Winters would be with him shortly.

Ten minutes later a woman that Chris guessed was about forty years old approached him carrying a bundle of paperwork in her arm. She was about 5' 6" tall, slim build with shoulder length blond hair and was wearing a pair of blue jeans, a plain black top and a pair of trainers. When the woman was in front of him she said in a friendly manner, "Hi, I'm DS Laura Winters and you must be…" She paused to check the paperwork she held then continued, "Chris Perry Halliwell?"

"That's me Sergeant, pleased to meet you!" Chris replied standing up and offering his hand to shake with DS Winters.

Ds Winters then shook Chris' hand and led him through a security door and along several passages until they reached a wide open plan office. The office was a large rectangular room with doors leading off from all four sides. The walls were covered with posters ranging from crime statistics to information on current operations and there was about twenty five desks placed around the room in groups of five which made the room appear very cramped. DS Winters led Chris to one of the groups of desks and explained that this is where her team was based and as he was now part of her team he would be using one of these desks. She told him that as the rest of the team was off today, he would meet them all tomorrow and he had her undivided attention for today.

At four o'clock that afternoon as Chris walked out of the police station he felt quite confident that he would settle into his new job very well. He had spent the entire day by DS Winters side getting educated on the finer points of life at Islington Police station and exactly what he'd be doing in his new job role, when he actually got around to doing the job that is. Ds Winters had informed him that in order to get access to all the different computer packages needed to do his job, he would need to attend an individual training course on each one. She had said that these courses would take up most of his first week and Chris didn't tell her that thanks to a little magical intervention, he was already well versed in the police computer system.

Chris had hoped that he would have found time to compose a spell to summon the Stratagem demon at some point during the day; however, as he had spent the whole day with DS Winters, this had proved impossible. As he walked home he began to try and work out a spell from memory and as he reached his front door it believed he had finally figured it out. As soon as Chris walked through the door, Damian orbed in behind him and said cheerfully "Hey! Thought you'd never get home"

"Nice to see you too but can I point out that you are way to chipper for someone who is about to vanquish a demon"

"I guess, maybe I'm just glad to see you" Damian replied with a cheeky wink.

Chris blushed slightly and smiled saying, "I have that effect on all the boys", which caused them both to start laughing.

"Enough ego bolstering for one day, did you manage to come up with a summoning spell for our Stratagem friend?

"Yeah, I just worked it out on the way home. I was thinking though, since we won't be able to vanquish the demon just yet, should we go somewhere else to summon him?

Damian thought for a moment then replied, "Good idea, that way it'll be harder for it to retaliate while we sort out the vanquishing potion!"

"OK, I'm just gonna get changed, a suit ain't the best outfit to wear when vanquishing demons. I still don't know this place very well, can you think of anywhere we can go to summon it?"

"Sure, I know just the place. One problem though, if we use the summoning spell now, won't the demon be ready for it a second time around? It will know why we want a lump of its flesh."

"You're probably right so I figured we could scry for it using the piece of armour we borrow to cut the flesh we need."

"Good point, hurry up and get changed then so we can get this over with."

A short while later Chris and Damian orbed into a large open grass area which Damian explained was a playing field used by local schools so no one should be around at this time of the evening. Just to be sure they separated and had a look around to ensure the place was empty. When they met up again Chris told Damian to go and hide behind some trees and be ready to orb him out if things went wrong. Damian had argued with him for a while but then realised the logic behind Chris' plan; he had no active powers and was much more useful as back up than as an actual fighter.

As soon as Chris was sure Damian was far enough away, he took out three white candles and placed them around him forming a triangle with him as the centre, lit them and began to chant:

"In this night and in this hour,

I call upon the Halliwell power,

Magic forces hear my plea,

Bring the Stratagem demon to me"

As Chris finished chanting he felt a wind begin to blow around him. The wind continued to build in strength collecting leaves and other debris from the ground and it reached a peak as a mini tornado about five metres in front of him. The wind then began to clear and Chris couldn't help but stare open mouthed at what was standing in front of him. The demon looked a lot like the picture from his computer but was a lot bigger and more terrifying than he had imagined. It was at least 7' 6" tall and had huge, broad shoulders with eerie yellow eyes that seemed to glow. The demon let out a low rumbling growl which sent a shiver through Chris' body and snarled, "Who dares to summon Degra of the Stratagem?"

Chris recovered from the shiver he felt when the demon spoke and decided to not show any fear. He mustered all his confidence and said as brashly as he could, "I dare, I think it's time we have a little chat"

The demon made another growling noise which Chris could only interpret as laughing and said "A witch! A witch has the audacity to summon me! I will crush your bones for you little man!"

Before Chris had the chance to reply, the demon lifted one of his arms and shot a lump of bone at him. As the projectile came hurtling towards him Chris gestured with both hands intending to freeze both Degra and the bone. Unfortunately, the bone was the only thing to freeze and Degra again to make the same low growling noise,

"Pathetic witch, you think your little powers can affect me! I am Stratagem! I am much too powerful for you!" the demon bellowed.

Chris saw this as his opportunity and said "You may not freeze but I bet I can still make you fly" and he put all his strength behind a telekinetic blast at the demon who immediately stopped laughing and was launched into the air and propelled backwards from where he stood. Degra managed to use the momentum of the throw to his advantage and back flipped in the air landing on his feet, surprisingly agile for his bulk. He then raised both arms and began shooting a volley of projectiles towards Chris who reacted quickly and dropped into a roll to the right. From his position on the ground Chris telekinetically threw as many of the projectiles as possible back at the demon but it dodged every one. While the demon was distracted Chris got back on his feet, grabbed one of the projectiles and began running towards it, then using his levitation power he launched a roundhouse kick to the demons head. When Chris' foot connected with the demon he felt like he had kicked a brick wall and fell onto his back on the ground. Degra then reached down, grabbed Chris by the shirt and lifted him in the air with one hand. Chris held onto the bone projectile as he knew he would only get one chance to get the piece of flesh. The demon then threw Chris away from him with his considerable strength but the second Chris left the demons grasp, he orbed out and orbed back in behind the demon. He then used the projectile he had in his hand to cut a lump of hairy flesh of the demons muscular thigh. Degra roared in anger and swung his arm around knocking Chris to the ground. Chris felt like he had been hit by a lorry but he knew that if he stayed in one place the demon would finish him once and for all. He saw the piece of flesh lying on the ground near him and began to crawl towards it while the demon growled and told him how much it was looking forward to ripping him apart. Chris couldn't understand every word the demon said as he was in so much and pain and was completely focused on getting the piece of flesh and getting away with his life and his body still intact. As Chris almost reached the piece of flesh he felt Degra's iron grip on his ankle. Knowing what was in store for him, he used his telekinesis to fling the piece of flesh into his hand and orbed out of the demons grasp.

Seconds later Chris materialised on his sofa at home. He was in agony from where the demon had hit him and he could feel the bruising starting on his ankle where it had just grabbed him. Almost immediately Damian appeared beside Chris with a pained look on his face,

"Chris, are you OK? I'm so sorry, I wanted to help you and get involved but I knew I would have just got in the way and distracted you!" he said with his voice full of compassion.

"It's ok, you did the right thing. It almost went completely to plan, except the plan didn't involve me getting my butt kicked and it did involve leaving with a piece of bone to scry for him with, but hey, what can you do?"

"How can you joke at a time like this? You just got the crap kicked out of you!"

"Hey, I don't need reminding, so can you please heal me? Cos these bruises really hurt!!"

"Of course" Damian said and he held one hand over Chris' face and the other over his stomach, both emitting a warm golden glow which immediately made Chris feel better.

When Damian had finished healing Chris, he said, "OK so that's the evidence of the butt kicking eradicated and I got a piece of demon bone so I guess we are closer to plan than you thought!" He then reached down beside the sofa to where he had orbed in and produced one of the demons bone projectiles.

Chris laughed and said "Damian you are a star! How did you get it?"

"I saw you orb out without it so I grabbed one before I left, they shoot pretty far so more than one landed near me! Guess I'm lucky it didn't land in me!" He laughed nervously as though the thought had just occurred to him.

"Don't sweat it, we got the demon flesh, the bone to scry with and we're both safe! All in all, not a bad days work! Now let's get this potion made so we can go back and kick his butt. I kinda owe him!"

Chris then printed out the potion details and the spell from his laptop and both men went to the kitchen and began to prepare the vanquishing potion. When the potion was ready for the piece of demon flesh to be added Chris said to Damian,

"Stand back, vanquishing potions for upper level demons have a tendency to explode when the flesh is added"

Both Chris and Damian took a few steps back from the cooker and Chris used a pair of tongs to toss the piece of flesh into the pot, as he had predicted the liquid exploded in a puff of red smoke and changed from a pale grey colour to a dark red.

When the smoke cleared Chris used a turkey baster to fill two potion bottles with the mixture and corked both saying to Damian, "Always pays to have a back up in these situations"

Damian laughed and then followed Chris into the living room and watched as he consecrated a crystal using a candle and the demons bone. Damian was shocked by the size of the crystal that Chris was consecrating so he asked "Why are you using such a large crystal?"

"I don't scry the traditional way. Billie, a friend of my mom's, taught me how to do it using a laptop. It's much easier because it means I can scry the whole world without needing reams of paper maps!"

"Cool, when we have more time you'll have to show me how to do it, might be useful to some of my charges."

"Yeah no sweat" Chris said as he sat down at his laptop with the consecrated crystal and opened his scrying software to begin searching for the demon with Damian avidly watching over his shoulder.

A few minutes later Chris felt the necessary tug on the scrying crystal and released he had found the location of the Stratagem demon, "Got him, it's not too far from where I first saved Rita from the warlock!" he said to Damian.

"Wicked, shall we go do this then?"

Chris stood up and shook his head saying, "No, there is no we in this Damian. I really appreciate your help but you've seen how strong this thing is, it's not safe for you to come with me. This is my responsibility!"

"You're right Chris, I have seen how strong this thing is, and that's exactly why I'm coming with you. You need back up in case it gets the better of you! After earlier on the demon is going to expect you to attack and he'll be prepared for you!"

"Damian, I can't let you to put yourself in danger. You're a whitelighter, fighting demons is not your job!"

"No, it's not but protecting witches is my job and I'm coming with you whether you like it or not!" Damian stated adamantly.

Chris resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't going to win this argument "OK! OK! But you have to promise to stay back and only get involved if I get knocked out or something, deal?"

Damian smiled and replied, "Deal. I'll only show myself if you need me! Now can we do this already?"

"Sure, just let me get you a bottle of the vanquishing potion! At least it'll offer you some protection; won't vanquish the demon without the spell, but it should still sting it like hell!"

Chris then walked out of the room and returned a few seconds later and handed Damian a bottle of vanquishing potion saying, "Shall we go?"


	5. Chapter 5

Moments later Chris and Damian materialised in a narrow alleyway that was only illuminated by the streetlights from the main street.

"At the end of this alley, there's an open square and the demon should be in an old theatre that looks onto it." Chris informed Damian. "We should walk the rest of the way and try to get a look in one of the windows, see exactly what we are dealing with before we charge in."

"Cool. Should we both go or do you want me to wait here?"

"I think we should both go, that way we can check both sides at once!"

"OK, I'll take the front and you take the back."

"Sure" Chris replied.

They then walked to the end of the alley and slowly out into the square where they could see the theatre on the right hand side. It was a small, old style place that looked quite run down. It had a sign above the double wooden doors with several letters missing that said 'The Lit le P pp t T eat e' and there was a barely legible sign beside the doors which said 'The home of British Puppetry'. As Chris looked around he realised that their plan was not going to work as they had expected because there were a few residential properties around the square and he didn't want anyone to see them looking in the theatre windows. Rather than explain his thinking to Damian, he motioned for him to follow around the side of the theatre. As they walked along the pathway they had to move overgrown bushes out of their way which they did as quietly as possible. Chris couldn't see any windows that he could look in until they reached the rear of the building where he saw one window just below the roof. He told Damian to wait where he was and he jumped using his power of levitation to get high enough and remain in place. As he peered in the grime encrusted window, he could see that the inside of the building was one large hall with the double doors at the front straight in front of his position. Below the window he was looking through there was a small stage and there were several long benches randomly lying around the rest of the hall. In the centre of the stage there was a small cauldron resting on a tripod that appeared to be empty and there was a table of what appeared to be potion ingredients beside it. Chris couldn't see the Stratagem demon in the hall so he let himself float back to the ground and whispered to Damian,

"There's a cauldron and some potion stuff in there but there doesn't seem to be anyone at home."

"What are we going…." Damian stopped talking as he heard a crash come from the hall and he glanced at Chris who had his finger to his lips which showed he had heard it too. Chris immediately jumped in the air and used his levitation power to get back up to the window. He glanced inside and couldn't believe what he saw; the stratagem demon was now standing on the stage and its mannerisms suggested it was less than happy as it talked to the group of warlocks that were gathered before it. The tripod that had held the cauldron was now halfway down the hall and the actual cauldron was on the floor by the front doors, Chris figured this was the crashing noise. This put a new slant on things as Chris hadn't intended on dealing with so many opponents. As he floated back to the ground, he was weighing up the pros and cons of still attacking the demon, he definitely had the element of surprise on his side but he also had ten warlocks and an upper level demon against him.

"Damian, there's one pissed off demon in there and about ten warlocks!" Chris said as soon as he reached the ground.

"What do you mean by pissed off?"

"It seems really angry but I don't know why, I can't hear a word that's being said in there."

"Are we still going in?"

"I am but you're not". Damian immediately started to protest but Chris hushed him saying, "I want you to watch from that window get me out of there the minute things go pear shaped. I'm gonna freeze all the warlocks but they'll get free if I'm hit hard enough so I need you to be ready to move"

"I really don't like it but you're the boss"

Chris smiled and patted Damian on the shoulder saying, "Just don't fall asleep on me"

Damian smiled back and said "I got your back; Just be bloody careful." He then slowly floated up to his look out position by the window as Chris orbed out.

Chris materialised in the hall just behind the group of warlocks. His arrival didn't go unnoticed, all the warlocks turned to face him and Drega snarled, "You!" Chris immediately gestured with his hands and froze all the warlocks before they could attack him and then used all his might to telekinetically throw the demon against the wall. When the demon landed on the floor it was momentarily disorientated so Chris threw the potion and hit it square on the chest. He then began to say the spell, "Spirits of air, forest and sea," The demon growled in anger and shot a projectile towards him which he moved to the side to avoid, unfortunately he wasn't fast enough and felt a searing pain as the projectile caught him on his right shoulder. He fell to his knees on the floor but knew that he couldn't let the pain stop him so he continued with the spell, "Set us of this demon free. Take this evil…..with bone………for a shell" Chris was finding it difficult to continue talking as the pain in his shoulder was excruciating and his breath was coming in short, jagged rasps but he struggled on "And ….deliver its…… hide…… back to …….hell". As Chris said the last word the demon roared in pain and exploded on the spot leaving nothing but a charred mark on the floor where he had stood. At the same moment, the pain consumed Chris and he collapsed unconscious.

Chris slowly opened his eyes and blinked a few times before he could focus on the face in front of him. Damian was looking down at him with his eyes full of worry,

"Hey, you had me worried there for a minute, How're you feeling?"

Chris sat up slowly trying to remember what had happened, he was sitting on his couch but the last thing he could remember was trying to say the spell to vanquish the Stratagem demon. "What happened? Did we vanquish the demon?"

"Yeah, you got him just before you passed out. I just managed to orb you out before one of those warlocks finished you off."

"Thanks for that, I owe you one."

"No problem, like I said before, protecting witches is my job."

Chris rubbed his head trying to clear the grogginess that he still felt, "You know we are gonna have to go back there, we need to work out why the warlocks were working for the demon and what's been happening to the powers they've stolen."

"I know. Do you think the warlocks will hang around?"

"I hope so; we might be able to get some information out of one. If not, we'll have to look at the potion ingredients that were there and maybe we'll be able to work out what they were up to."

"Bit of a long shot, ain't it?

"Yeah but it's the best shot we've got! Before we go though, there's a potion in the Book of Shadows that stops a warlock from blinking, it might be useful."

Chris then got out his laptop and looked up the potion to stop warlocks blinking. He then went to the kitchen, quickly brewed it and filled several potion bottles. He went back to the living room and found Damian at his laptop;

"Hey, got the potion, what you up to?"

"I was just looking through the famous Halliwell Book of Shadows, it's not everyday I get the chance to look at the spells and potions the Charmed One's have used."

"Yeah, there's some juicy stuff in there but you can look later, let's get back to the theatre."

"OK, do you want to orb outside again or are we just gonna go straight in?"

"We'll go straight in, no point in wasting anymore time."

Chris and Damian then orbed from the living room straight into the hall of the theatre. When they materialised they saw four warlocks collecting the potion ingredients that were lying all around the stage. As they were all engrossed in what they were doing they didn't notice the new arrivals. Chris noticed an athame sticking in one of the stage pillars and used his telekinesis to propel it into the heart of the nearest warlock. When they heard the warlocks death cry they all turned around and stared at the spot where it had been moments before. Almost instantaneously the warlocks realised that something had vanquished their associate and began looking for it. They spotted Chris standing with Damian at the back of the hall and recognizing him from earlier in the evening they began to blink out. Chris threw the anti-blinking potion and managed to hit one of the warlocks before it disappeared but was too slow to catch the other three. The warlock he hit with the potion had a look of complete shock on its face and she continued to frantically try and blink out. Chris and Damian started to make their way towards the stage and as the got closer the warlock realised she was wasting her time and jumped off the stage to meet them. She raised both hands and a stream of white mist shot out from each towards Damian and Chris. Chris used his levitation power to jump over the stream but it caught his right foot and it became encased in ice causing Chris to fall back to the floor.

"Nice freezing power, how do you like mine?" Chris said as he raised his hands and froze the warlock where she stood putting an end to the white mist. Chris then looked over at where Damian had stood and saw that he was completely encased in ice. Chris noticed that he was losing feeling in his right foot and decided that the best way to get rid of the ice was to orb out of it so he turned himself into orbs and reconstituted on the spot, minus the lump of ice. He then shouted to Damian, "If you can hear me, you need to orb. Orb out of it!"

He noticed a white light start to glow within the lump of ice that contained Damian and seconds later he appeared by Chris' side.

"God that was cold! I'm gonna have frost bite for a month." Damian said as he wrapped his arms around himself and trying to heat himself up.

"Easy there mate, you'll be fine, you're a whitelighter remember", Chris laughed.

Damian laughed along and said "Yeah but whitelighters still feel the damn cold."

"You'll soon heat up; right now we need to do what we came here for." Chris then turned his attention back to the warlock who was still frozen and used his telekinesis to throw her against a wall. The warlock unfroze and screamed as she flew through the air landing awkwardly against the wall. Chris then walked over to her saying "Right, we need to have a little chat about your friend Degra" and used his TK power to collect the athame from the stage. He then held the athame against the warlock's throat and said "Why are the warlocks working for Degra?" The warlock kicked out using right leg, unbalancing Chris and grabbed the athame from his hand as she rolled away from him. She then got back on her feet at the same time as Chris and said "You will get no information from me witch, I live to serve my queen, I will die to serve my queen" as she plunged the athame into her chest and exploded.

Chris stared at the spot where the warlock had stood and Damian walked over to him and said "That's not something you see everyday"

"Definitely not! I've never known a warlock to top itself before, they normally do anything they can to save their skin."

"What do you reckon she meant by serving her queen?"

"I have no idea but it sounds like there's a new power in the underworld. Whatever it is, it must be bloody powerful if it has demons and warlocks working for it and willing to die for it."

"I guess I'll go and check with the Elders, see what they know."

"Yeah, I'll go and check the Book of Shadows to see if anything has ever rallied warlocks and demons before."

"It's worth a try; I'll meet you back at your place as soon as I can."

"Yeah cool, see you in a bit."

Chris and Damian then orbed out of the hall unaware that they were being observed by a shadowy figure through the same window they had used to observe Degra and his followers earlier that evening. As soon as they left, the figure shimmered away.


	6. Chapter 6

Chris orbed into his living room and powered up his laptop determined to work out who or what the warlock could have been referring to as her queen. He was having real difficulty making sense out of anything that had been happening recently: first warlocks were attacking witches to steal their powers, normal enough but then they didn't have the powers later, second the warlocks were working for a demon and now there was some queen to fit into the mix. What was the connection? It appeared that both the demon and the warlocks were in service of this queen; question is, who is the queen? Chris had been going through the Book of Shadows for over an hour and hadn't come up with anything when Damian orbed into the living room.

"Boy! Am I glad to see you! Did the Elders have anything useful to add? "

"Not really, they just said that they have seen signs for a while that a new power is rallying the underworld but they are not sure what the power is!"

"Well that helps about as much help as a chocolate teapot!"

Damian chuckled briefly, "True but there's another problem!"

"Oh isn't there always!" Chris' sarcasm wasn't lost on Damian, "What is it this time?"

"The Elders believe that there's something wrong at the demon wasteland."

"Something wrong! Is there any way they can veg that up a little for us?"

"Yeah they kinda have. It has something to do with your aunts ex, Cole Turner. He killed the beast that fed of the essence of vanquished demons and warlocks which meant that anything that's been vanquished since hasn't been completely destroyed."

"I don't understand. I thought it's only the demons powers that end up on the wasteland. From what I understand that's what Cole absorbed to survive and ultimately escape!"

"You're sort of right. Most of the demons and warlocks get destroyed as they enter the wasteland and only their powers end up there but more powerful demons have been known to make the transition in one piece. In the past the beast would've devoured them but twenty seven years ago Cole killed it, so now they are surviving."

Chris looked confused, "OK so if these demons are surviving, are they absorbing the powers the way Cole did?"

"No, Cole only managed to do that because he was a half demon and his original powers were absorbed by the beast. Regular demons can't do that!"

"Right" Chris thought for a moment, "Can regular demons escape from the wasteland the way Cole did?"

"Well no, they shouldn't be able to but something has definitely happened because normally the Elders have no idea what goes on there. It's beyond their radar if you like but lately whatever has happened means they can sense something is very wrong."

"So what do they want me to do about it?"

Damian smiled at Chris, "Well that's the tricky part, they want you to somehow resurrect the beast or find another way to get rid of any vanquished demons or warlocks!"

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"Hey, I have absolutely no idea, I'm just the messenger!"

Chris threw his arms in the air in a gesture of defeat and fell back in his chair. "Well great! Abso-bloody-lutely fantastic!"

When Chris returned home from work the following day he knew he was in for a busy evening, apart from the new queen, he had to work out how to permanently destroy dead demons and he didn't have a clue how to do it. Chris and Damian had spent most of the previous night trying to come up with a plan to bring back the beast but had been unsuccessful. After a lot of research Chris had found a very vague reference in one of his online sources to the destruction of an astral plane using a spell. He had figured that since the demon wasteland is essentially an astral plane he may be able to do the same thing and had sent Damian away to consult the Elders. Damian was due to meet up with him in about an hour so Chris decided to make some dinner for them both rather than get straight back into research mode.

Just as Chris was beginning to lay the table Damian orbed into the room,

"Hey, how's you?"

"I'm not bad, dinner's almost ready. It's spaghetti bolognaise, is that ok with you?"

"Yeah, sounds good to me, I'm starved!"

A few minutes later Chris and Damian sat at the table eating their dinner. Damian said,

"This is really good, where did you learn to cook like this?"

"My mom owns a restaurant in San Francisco, I used to help out there and mom took great pleasure in teaching me how to cook. My brother Wyatt was always more interested in helping dad out at Magic School."

"Well she certainly taught you well! How are things going at Magic School since your dad…..you know"

"To be honest, I've never really taken much interest in the place. Mom made sure Wyatt and me attended normal school but dad made us go to evening classes and summer school there. I hated it, might be part of the reason I never got on well with him. Wyatt has taken over as headmaster there now, he's been teaching there for a few years which is how he met his wife Siobhan."

"Does he like teaching then?"

"Yeah, he loves it; he's got a real natural aptitude for it. Wyatt's quite lucky though, he's one of those people that's brilliant at everything he does."

"Must have been tough having a big brother like that"

Damian waited for Chris to reply but noticed that he had a blank expression on his face as though he was miles away from the conversation and suspected that he hadn't even heard him. Just as he was going to repeat himself, Chris spoke but Damian got the impression it was more to himself than his company.

"It's really weird: my whole life Wyatt has been the best at everything; he was the best at all the sports, the best looking, the most powerful, just always better than me. Now all of a sudden I have all this power, I am The Charmed One! I am the one who has the important destiny and yet I still feel like I'm in his shadow. I want to run to him, ask him for help but for as long as I can remember all I have wanted is to be my own person! I've wanted to be the best at something, anything and now all of a sudden I am; and I don't know how to deal with it without him!"

Damian realised that he was getting an insight into one of Chris' insecurities and thought hard before he replied,

"Chris, Wyatt's your older brother. We all want to compete with our older brothers, I know I certainly did, and I get that it's worse for you because of Wyatt's power but I know that this is just insecurity. You are brilliant at everything you do: I've seen you fight evil and you've been great at it, you saved Rita's life twice and you saved my life yesterday. You are a fantastic cook, you just served the best spag bol I've ever had and as for your looks? Well, I certainly don't think you have anything to worry about in that department"

Chris looked at Damian and smiled and Damian continued,

"Seriously Chris, Wyatt is your brother and I'd bet he'd be more than willing to help you out. It's part of his job description to support you and I can only guess he'd be more than willing to!

"You're right, I know you are but I just feel like I have to get used to this new power on my own. I want to do this for me!"

Damian placed his hand on Chris' forearm and said "You are not alone!"

Chris met Damian's eyes and for a moment time stood still between the two men. Chris knew what he was feeling, he was falling in love big time and he felt a strong urge to kiss the beautiful man in front of him. Damian obviously felt the same as he started to lean toward him and Chris knew a kiss was coming but he also knew he couldn't let it happen so he reached for his plate and said awkwardly,

"I'm stuffed, better get these dirty plates washed so that we can get on with sorting out the wasteland" and he left a bewildered looking Damian sitting at the table while he went to the kitchen and began to tidy up. Damian joined Chris in the kitchen a few minutes later and acting as though nothing had happened he handed over his plate and said, "I spoke to the Elder's about your plan to destroy the wasteland and they said it's not an option. It would upset the cosmic balance and create all sorts of problems"

"So what are we going to do? I really can't see how we can resurrect the beast!"

"What if we don't resurrect it but stop it from dying in the first place?

"What? If we do that, it will change everything, Cole would never have escaped the wasteland if the beast had of survived."

"I know but I was thinking about doing a spell to bring the beast forward in time to now. If we time it right, we should be able to remove the beast at the exact moment Cole thinks he killed it, thus sorting out our problem and allowing the timeline to continue undisturbed!"

Chris considered what Damian had just suggested before saying, "You know what, that might just work if we time it exactly right."

Chris then stopped tidying up and went into the living room and powered up his laptop to look up time line spells in the Book of Shadows. After spending a while searching through the spells he began to compose his own spell to move the beast through time from the moment before it was destroyed to now. When he had the spell composed he said to Damian,

"I've got the spell but the only way it will work is if I say it from the wasteland."

"OK, how do you suppose we manage that? If you go there you risk being destroyed like the demons!"

"Yeah, I thought you were gonna say that so I figured I could tweak the spell my aunt Phoebe used to get there!"

"It's worth a try; do you have a copy of the spell?"

"Yeah, just give me a few moments to revise it for our uses!"

Chris then scanned the spells in his laptop until he found the one he was looking for, "Uh oh! This isn't going to work, Phoebe used a lost love spell, it won't work for me!"

"Can you write your own spell?"

"Sure, just give me a minute"

When Chris had completed wrote out the spell he turned out all the lights and lit two white candles before making himself comfortable on the sofa. He then said to Damian,

"If I'm not back in half an hour go get my mom and ask her to pull me back. My body will remain here so I'll basically be astral projecting there!"

"OK, half hour it is, good luck!"

"If all goes to plan, I'll be back in a few minutes"

Chris then said the spell to astral project himself to the demon wasteland,

"Using my gift,

Set my conscious adrift

To the demon wasteland

To enact my plan"

As he finished the spell he closed his eyes and felt the strange feeling of separation he got when he astral projected. When he opened his eyes again he was looking out over a barren, red, rocky landscape and realised that the spell had worked. He had astral projected to the demon wasteland. Chris knew from what his aunt Phoebe had written in the Book of Shadows that the beast lived under the ground and only surfaced to devour anything that landed in the wasteland. He decided that the best place for him to do the spell was high up so that the beast couldn't attack him as soon as he conjured it. He walked towards the nearest mound of rock and began to climb it but as when he was about half way up, he heard a rumbling noise and stopped on the spot. He listened intently and a few minutes later he heard the noise again and realised that it was voices he was hearing. In a split second he made the decision to investigate the noise, if the Elders thought that something was wrong, chances are, something was.

He made his way carefully across the landscape until he reached the source of the noise. He hid behind a boulder and noticed a gathering of about twenty demons that seemed to be arguing among themselves. As they were all talking over each other he found it very difficult to understand what they were saying but he made out some phrases such as 'she said she would come back for us', 'we all swore allegiance', 'we helped raise her', 'she killed her own mother', 'not her mother' and Chris was also sure that he heard word Charmed being used. He decided to try and get a little closer to see if he could establish who 'she' was so he started making his way around some rocks. As he turned a corner his foot slipped on a stone so he grabbed onto a mound of rocks to keep his balance but in doing so he knocked a stone of the pile. Instantly the noise from the clearing stopped and he heard the demons try to work out what the noise was. After several minutes they dismissed the noise as the wind and went back to their argument.

Chris decided that it was too risky to try and get any closer without his powers so he carefully made his way away from the demon gathering and back to where he had come from. He then proceeded to climb up a mound of rocks and started his spell,

"A mistake has been made,

The beast must be saved

Give me the power so I may mend,

Move the beast before its end

Save the beast before its demise

Bring it here before my eyes

By the power of this rhyme

Move it through space and time"

When Chris finished the spell, he saw a clutter of white lights appear directly in front of him which then cleared to reveal the beast. It was a huge pink and purple coloured beast that resembled a large skinny octopus but each tentacle had a gaping mouth with sharp pointed teeth. As soon as the lights cleared the beast dropped to the ground, burrowed in and Chris watched a raised track of dirt travelling along the ground in the direction of the demon gathering.

As Chris considered his job finished he decided it was time to get back into his body and recited a spell to move him back,

"Using my gift,

Set my conscious adrift

From the demon wasteland

I've finished my plan"

Chris closed his eyes as he felt his soul being pulled back towards his body and when he opened them again he was sitting on his sofa watching Damian pace back and forward. Chris smiled and said,

"You can stop that now, I'm home"

A look of relief spread across Damian's face as he said, "Oh thank god, I was starting to get worried about you!"

"It went fine; I even got some information about the new queen, really vague information but information none the less!"

Chris then went on to tell Damian exactly what had happened at the wasteland and when he had finished Damian went off to fill in the Elders. He then decided to go to bed early as he had been through a rough couple of days and he had a feeling that things were going to get a lot rougher.


	7. Chapter 7

A few weeks later Chris still hadn't figured out who the new queen of the underworld was, he had spent every available moment researching but was having no luck

A few weeks later Chris still hadn't figured out who the new queen of the underworld was, he had spent every available moment researching but was having no luck. On a positive note, he was settling in well at work. He had managed to solve several of the crimes that DS Winters had assigned to him and had even arrested three people. It was while he was in the custody suite at Islington Police Station finishing up some paperwork for a prisoner he had just sent to court when his mobile phone rang,

"Chris Halliwell" he said when he answered the call.

"Hi Chris, it's your mom."

"Oh hey mom, what's up?"

"What's up is that my son never calls me and hasn't been to visit in over two weeks!"

"Mom, I'm sorry, things have just been really hectic here lately, what with work and everything!"

"Isn't this weekend a bank holiday in England? You could come home for a few days"

He could hear the hope in his mothers voice as she said that but right now he couldn't give her an answer and he decided it was better if they discussed it in person so he said, "Mom, I can't really talk at the minute, I'll give you a call tonight about dinnertime, make you feel like I'm right there with you"

"Is that your way of telling me you'll be home for dinner?

"Yeah, I'll see you later. Gotta run"

"Bye hun"

"Bye mom"

Chris hung up the phone and noticed that the custody officer was giving him a strange look, "Doesn't your mum live in San Francisco?" she said.

"Yeah, why?"

"You just said you'd see her later"

Chris hesitated before he replied, "It's just a figure of speech, it's not like I can just pop home any time I want!" and he laughed nervously.

"True, it is a bit far" the custody officer laughed back but she was still giving him a strange look.

Chris realised he had just had a narrow escape so he quickly made his excuses and left.

His mom mentioning the bank holiday reminded him that he still hadn't got around to finalising his plans yet. He still wanted to explore London in more depth, so far he had only seen the main tourist attractions and taken in one West End show with Joanne but he could do that any weekend. The bank holiday meant that he would be off work for four days in a row and he wanted to take the opportunity to visit the English coast and he wanted to ask Damian to come with him. Trouble was, so far he still hadn't managed to pop the question, he'd tried a few times but could never find the right words. He had so many mixed feelings towards Damian, he really liked him and he loved having him as a friend but he liked him a little too much. After what happened a few weeks ago, he knew that Damian had feelings for him too. They had nearly kissed and Chris often wondered what might of happened if he hadn't pulled back. He really wanted Damian but something was making him hold back, something was stopping him from letting their feelings progress, which was why he had issues about asking Damian to go away with him. He had been over this so many times and had decided to just go for it, he could control his feelings and he knew Damian could as well. It would just be two friends going away for a weekend together.

When Chris got home that evening, he had a few hours before he had to be at his mom's for dinner, the eight hour time difference meant that if he had a late dinner it tied in with his mom having an early lunch. He decided to call Damian and just ask him out straight if he wanted to go away with him so he quickly changed clothes and called for him.

When Damian orbed in, he was wearing a black suit with a pink shirt and a purple/pink tie and Chris was temporarily mesmerized by how beautiful he looked. It was the first time he had seen him dressed smartly and he was shocked at the transformation. After what seemed like an eternity, Chris realised that Damian was speaking to him and he snapped out of his daze.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"I was asking what's wrong; you seemed to be on another planet!"

"Oh, no, not at all, I was just thinking, that's all!" Chris was trying to work out how to invite Damian to go away for the weekend but the words just would not come so he said, "What's with the suit?"

"One of my charges got married today in Philadelphia and I promised her I would attend the service. Thankfully you gave me an excuse to leave before the reception; I was feeling like a bit of a spare part."

"Why?"

"I'm just shy I guess, I know my charge well but she was the only one at the whole service that I did know!"

"Won't she be upset that you left?"

"Not at all, I told her I probably wouldn't be able to stay all day. I saw the actual marriage which to me was the important part of the day and I got to offer my congratulations. Partying with a load of strangers is not my style at all!"

Chris laughed and decided to stop stalling so he said "Listen it's a bank holiday weekend coming up and I was thinking of going to visit a village called Hunstanton." He couldn't believe how nervous he felt and was finding it difficult to make eye contact with Damian, preferring to look at his own feet instead. He felt like a lovesick teenager again but decided to carry on anyway. "It's on the Norfolk coastline, the scenery there is supposed to be breathtaking and I was wondering if you'd like to join me?"

Damian immediately replied, "Yeah definitely" Chris was over the moon but tried his best not to let it show, instead he just gave him a small smile and said "Wicked"

Then Damian continued "But only one condition"

Chris' smile faded quicker than it had appeared then he looked at Damian's face and saw that he was smiling so he decided to cautiously play along, "What's that then?"

"We have to drive there rather than orb!"

"Brilliant, I was actually considering that anyway, might as well see as much of the countryside as possible"

Chris and Damian then talked over the details of their trip and arranged a time to meet on the Friday morning. Chris agreed to hire a car and book accommodation as Damian said he would be busy for the rest of the week making sure his charges could survive the weekend without him. They then parted company as a charge was calling for Damian and Chris wanted to get the hotel booked before he had to be at his mom's for dinner.

The rest of the week passed quietly. Chris had dinner with his mom, Wyatt and Siobhan and he told them about his life in London including his new job and the possibility of a new queen in the underworld. Wyatt had said that he had heard similar rumours and promised to do some research on it at Magic School and his mom had made some really good suggestions about ways to find out more information. At work he was kept busy but he managed to avoid doing any overtime as he wanted to arrange his weekend away. He only saw Damian for a few minutes on Wednesday evening when he popped in to make sure everything was arranged for the weekend.

When Friday morning came Chris was a little nervous but not as nervous as he had been trying to invite Damian in the first place. They had arranged to meet at 9am as Chris wanted to pick up the rental car early and then have breakfast when they were on their way. Damian arrived just as Chris was fixing his hair and went into the kitchen to make them both a coffee while Chris finished getting ready. They decided that Chris should go and collect the car then park up in a back street and call Damian so that he could orb there with the bags. Chris had collected the car and met up with Damian and they left Islington at 9.15 to begin the drive to Hunstanton. Chris let Damian drive most of the way as he was more familiar with English roads and also because he wanted to enjoy the scenery as much as he could. They had stopped at a small café in Hackney for breakfast and listened to music loudly on the radio for the entire journey. Both men clearly felt comfortable with each other as there were no awkward silences during the entire drive. The conversation was lively and to an outsider they seemed like they had been best friends their entire lives. The drive took about two hours and when they arrived in Hunstanton they had no trouble finding their hotel which was a small family run place called 'The Last Port' that was only a short walk from the beach.

Chris wasn't sure whether to book a twin room or if they should have separate rooms. He had decided to play it safe and booked two single rooms as he wasn't sure he could trust himself sleeping too close to Damian. When they went to the reception desk to book in Chris watched Damian's reaction to the news that they had separate rooms. He was disappointed to see that Damian didn't seem to react at all but decided not to let it spoil the weekend, after all, they were only here as friends.

The two rooms were next door to other and they both went and quickly unpacked before meeting up again in the lobby. They spent the day looking around the village and they spent a few hours playing slot machines in the amusement arcade. At lunchtime they bought fish and chips from a sea front take away which they ate while sitting on the beach. In the evening they returned to the hotel and got freshened up then they went to a Chinese restaurant that the receptionist recommended. After dinner they went to a pub and had a few drinks while enjoying the live band that was playing then they retired back to their separate hotel rooms around midnight.

The following day they spent on the beach enjoying the sea and the sunshine. They even rented a small boat and sailed out to a small island to have a picnic lunch. After seeing a poster in the pub the night before, they had arranged to go to see a cabaret show at a nearby hotel that evening which was how they found themselves sitting in the Roseview Hotel watching Ms Starfire perform. While Ms Starfire took a break Damian went to the bar to get another round of drinks and Chris waited at the table. As he saw Damian walking back towards him he gasped as he felt the tingle behind his eyes that signalled a premonition so he closed his eyes and let the vision fill his head:

_It was night time and the full moon was shining brightly. In a forest clearing there was a circle of figures in dark hooded robes standing around a bonfire. Outside the circle there were three people, a middle aged man, a teenage boy and a young girl, sitting bound and gagged on the ground next to a large stone that seemed very out of place. The circle of figures parted near the bound people and they all raised their arms and each one started to emit a beam of energy into the fire. As they did this, a single, stronger beam of energy shot from the fire towards the innocents._

As the vision faded Chris opened his eyes and Damian was standing right in front of him and when he noticed the look on Chris' face he said,

"Are you OK?"

Chris said, "Yeah I'm fine but I just had the weirdest premonition."

Damian sat down beside Chris and listened intently as he was told everything about the vision. When Chris had finished describing the vision, Damian said,

"I've never heard of any ritual like that. Do you think the people in the robes were demons?"

Chris didn't reply and Damian could see that he was staring at something behind him so he turned around to see what it was. He hadn't realised that while they were talking Ms Starfire had come back on the stage and that's who Chris was staring at.

"Chris, what's so interesting?" Damian said.

"It's Ms Starfire, she was the man in my premonition."

Damian couldn't believe what he was hearing, sure he knew Ms Starfire was really Mr Starfire but he couldn't understand how Chris could know what the man beneath all the make up looked like.

"Are you sure?" he asked sceptically.

"Definitely, I'm not sure how I know but I definitely know!" replied Chris. He then went on to say "Look, while Ms Starfire is on stage my premonition can't happen. Go and see the elders know anything about the ritual I described."

"Sure, but shouldn't we be checking the Book of Shadows as well?"

"I'll do that. I'm going to orb home and grab my laptop then bring it back here so I can check it and keep an eye on Ms Starfire."

"Good idea, but I'll go and get it, that way we'll always have her in our sights!"

"Yeah OK, go for it!"

Damian then walked out of the bar and found a discreet spot to orb out and retrieve Chris' laptop. He reappeared in the same spot moments later with Chris' laptop bag hanging from his shoulder and made his way back into the bar. When he got back to the table Chris was sitting exactly where he had left him.

"Hey, you were quick!" Chris said when Damian approached the table.

"Kinda figured time was off the essence! Innocents in danger and all that!"

Chris smiled and said, "True, very true!"

"OK, so I'm going to go and speak to the Elders, hopefully they'll be able to give us the heads up!"

"Cool, I'll see you in a bit"

"Alright, I'll be back as soon as I can." Damian said as he again began to make his way out of the bar to find somewhere to orb.

As soon as Damian had left Chris powered up his laptop and began to search through the Book of Shadows for anything that would help to stop the ritual he had witnessed in his premonition. All the while he was searching he kept his eye on Ms Starfire but was unable to find anything that he could relate to what he had seen. When he had been searching for about twenty minutes he heard Ms Starfire announce that she was about to sing the last song of the evening. Chris realised that he needed to come up with a plan to keep an eye on Ms Starfire after she finished her show and he decided the best way would be to get Damian to do it as he could use his whitelighter abilities to watch her places that Chris would have trouble explaining his presence.

He quickly packed up his laptop and went into the gent's toilet and checking it was empty he called Damian.

"Damian isn't coming" he heard a voice behind him say.

Chris turned around and was shocked to see an attractive young woman standing in front of him. She was wearing a gold and white robe and Chris had the strangest feeling that she reminded him of someone but he was couldn't figure out who.

He couldn't help but feel irritated by the Elders presence as he had inherited his mother extreme dislike of them which he assumed was the reason for the strange vibe he was getting from the woman in front of him.

"Why not?", he asked sharply.

"Damian has been reassigned to another charge as we feel you two are becoming too close to each other." the elder explained calmly.

"What do you mean? Too close? He's my whitelighter! For god's sake we're supposed to be close!" Chris replied

"Close, maybe? But we both know that witches and whitelighters are not meant to vacation together! Come on Chris, can't allow you to make the same mistakes as your mother now, can we?" the elder said and Chris got the impression that she was smirking at him. He felt the anger bubbling up inside him as he shot back,

"For your information Damian is my friend, nothing more! And at this minute in time, I need his help to save an innocent!"

"Chris, with all your powers, I find it hard to believe that you need a whitelighters help to save one little innocent!"

Chris got the distinct impression that the Elder was mocking him and he decided that he didn't like it one bit so he said "You know what, saving one little innocent, as you so nicely put it, is more important than standing here arguing with a jumped up bigot like you!" As Chris finished the sentence he walked past the Elder and out of the toilet, slamming the door behind him but as he did so he was sure that he heard the Elder laughing.

When Chris re-entered the bar area he was fuming with anger at the Elders, how dare they take Damian away form him when nothing had even happened. He was also under the impression that the Elders had changed their opinions regarding witch/whitelighter relations after his mom/dad and his grams and Sam. It just didn't make sense the way that Elder had just spoken to him, it was as if she had enjoyed taunting him but he decided that saving the innocents had to take priority at this point so he went off in search of Ms Starfire who had already left the stage.

After attempting and failing several times to get back stage to see Ms Starfire Chris made an educated guess that she wouldn't be abducted until she left the bar as she had no make up on in his vision so he waited by the stage exit for her to leave. He was surprised to find that he didn't have to wait very long as he saw Ms Starfire without the make up or costume leave the building about twenty minutes later and he appeared to be in quite a rush.

Chris followed the guy out of the alleyway and down the street. Then man appeared very nervous and agitated and Chris found it hard to believe that the man he was following was the same cool and collected person that had been on the stage singing his heart out earlier. After following him for about ten minutes, the man stopped outside a small cottage on the outskirts of the village and seemed to be scouting around to see if anyone was watching him so Chris quickly hid himself behind a dustbin. The man seemed to satisfy himself that he was unobserved so he opened the gate and walked up to the front door of the cottage and let himself in. Chris dashed up to the cottage and levitated over the small fence that surrounded the building then he went up to the front of the building and looked in the window. He saw the man standing in the corner of the room looking terrified as he was being approached by two of the hooded figures.

Chris immediately orbed into the room and gestured to freeze both of the hooded figures but he was shocked to see that the innocent was the only one to stop moving. He then swung his arm and telekinetically threw one of the figures against the wall but he was again shocked to see that the figure did not move with the force he would've expected. He could see that his powers did not seem to work to their full potential against the hooded figures so he used his levitation power to roundhouse kick the one that was still standing. He then run to the innocent and orbed out of the room as he knew he was outmatched and didn't want to find out exactly how much power the figures had.

Chris materialised in his hotel room with the innocent who had now unfroze and he could see the confusion and shock of the guys face so he spoke before the guy could panic.

"I'm not going to hurt you; I brought you here to protect you from the guys in the robes!"

"Who….what are you? Where am I? How'd I get here?" the man asked in a paniced voice.

"Calm down, this must all be very strange for you. My name is Chris and you are in my hotel room." Chris started to explain but the man interrupted him saying "What are you? How did I get here?"

"I'm a witch, a good witch and I orbed you here."

"Oh great, just what I need, more magic in my life!"

It was Chris' turn to look shocked as he couldn't believe that the man knew about magic. "How do you know about witches? He asked

"I didn't until just now" the man replied "But considering I was just attacked by an order of Druids, I'm pretty much open to believing anything at this point!"

"Druids? Do you have any idea what they wanted you for?" Chris asked.

"Nothing good, I know that much!" the man said matter of factly before sitting on the bed and taking his head in his hands.

Chris realised that the man was upset but he also knew from his premonition that two other lives were at risk and he needed all the information that this man could provide.

"I know this must be upsetting for you but I think that more people are at risk from these druids so I need you to explain everything that you know about them."

The man looked up at Chris and said again, "Who are you?, emphasising the word who.

"I told you, my name is Chris, I'm a witch and it's my job to make sure that no-one gets hurt but I can only do that if you tell me everything you know about druids."

The man seemed to be considering what Chris had said and kept looking him over as though he was looking for some visual confirmation that what Chris was telling him was true. After several minutes, he either found the confirmation that he was looking for or he just decided to trust Chris because he began to talk about the druids,

"The druids have been attacking my family for a few years now; there are only three of us left, myself, my niece and my nephew. Once a year during a full moon, more of my family disappear and they never come back. I've been trying to find them but I can never come up with any trace of them. I've tried reporting it to the police but they just don't seem to care. I mean six people are missing, probably dead and the police don't even care. Where's the justice in that?"

Chris could see the man's eyes fill up with tears and knew that this was understandably a very difficult topic for him to talk about but he also knew that without this man's help, there was no way he could ever stop the ritual he had witnessed.

"I know how hard this must be for you but if you can explain everything to me, I will make sure they are stopped. I promise you that!"

"For some weird reason, I believe you." And the man smiled for the first time since he left the stage that night. "You were at my show tonight, I saw you. You must wonder how I can keep performing when my family are in danger but you see I have no choice, it's my only escape. When I become Ms Starfire, nothing else matters, her family isn't missing its Michael Jones' family that's missing. Anyway I digress, the druids take three of us each yeah but I honestly don't know why or even where they take them to!"

"You mentioned a niece and nephew, where are they now?" Chris asked assuming that these were the other two innocents in danger.

"They are staying with a their father in Ireland; I sent them away because I figured that they'd be safer away from here. I only stayed to try and put a stop to the Druids but I've been wasting my time. I don't really know anymore now than I did this time last year. My sister was the one who managed to discover that it's Druids that have been taking our family members."

"Why is their father not at risk?" Chris asked

"My sister said that they were only after blood relatives!"

"OK, can you call and make sure that your niece and nephew are safe? I won't lie to you, you are all still in danger!"

Chris could see the look of panic on the other mans face as he processed the knowledge that sending his family away may not have been enough to save them.

"Can I use your phone?" he asked urgently

"Go ahead, it's just there by the bed" Chris replied and started to get out his laptop because he knew he was going to need the Book of Shadows to come up with a way to stop the druids. Chris could hear Michael talking on the phone and knew instinctively that he was right, the niece and nephew were missing. This was confirmed as soon as Michael dropped the phone and fell to his knees in tears. Chris rushed to his side and put his arms around him trying to calm him down and assuring him the children were safe for now and that he would find them before any harm came to them.

He eventually calmed the man down enough to begin searching through the Book for any information that it had on Druids and he was disappointed to find that it only had one reference to an incident where his mom and her sisters had fought Druids while on holiday in England. However this entry was no use to him as it didn't say anything about the druids being impervious to their powers or anything about how to stop them without travelling back in time to Camelot.

Chris then started to check through all the other reference books that he had on his laptop and after about an hour of checking he eventually found reference to an order of Druids that were impervious to witches powers. The entry said that the druids in question were mortal and only had powers because of amulets that they all wore around their neck which allowed them to channel magical powers from the source of their order. The source of their order was a naturally occurring Magical point that was similar to the nexus that the manor was built on. It also said that in order to defeat the druids the source of their power must be destroyed using a particular spell which the entry conveniently quoted.

Chris quickly made a note of the spell and continued to search through the reference source as he wanted to know what the druids gained by killing the Jones family. He eventually discovered that the Druids appeared to be performing a ritual which required the eradication of the all the descendants of the founder of the village which they occupied. If they were successful in this task the entire village would become a safe haven for them and the source of their power would be indestructible resulting in everlasting power.

By the time Chris had finished his research Michael had practically worn a hole in the carpet with all his pacing. Chris could understand why Michael was so nervous and he knew that there was no way Michael could come with him to rescue his family. He found himself wishing that Damian was there to help him but he quickly pushed that thought away as he didn't have time to deal with his feelings on that subject. He decided that the best way to deal was for Michael to remain in the hotel room and he decided that he could use some of Michael's blood to scry for his niece and nephew.

He then sat Michael down and explained what he was going to do and why he could not come along. Chris decided to create a crystal cage around the room to ensure that the druids would be unable to attack Michael there. Michael gladly gave Chris some blood to consecrate a crystal with but he was very unhappy to learn that he wasn't going with him. After a lengthy conversation and Chris threatening to freeze Michael until he returned, Michael relented and let Chris get on with it.


End file.
